1.5 Customer Notice, Neighbor Registry & Posting Signs
Key Takeaways
Before contracting, a Connecticut pesticide business must give the customer registry information and label sections including signal word and reentry statements.
Registered abutting neighbors must get at least two notification attempts no later than 24 hours before applications within 100 yards of the property line.
Connecticut lawn signs are 4 by 5 inches, black on bright yellow, posted at the time of application, and must stay up for 24 hours.
Commercial applicators must post road-frontage signs no farther apart than every 150 feet or part thereof, in addition to point-of-entry signs.
Golf course signs go up no more than 24 hours before application at the first tee and the clubhouse registration point.
1.5 Customer Notice, Neighbor Registry & Posting Signs
Connecticut's public-notice law, CGS § 22a-66a, and its regulations, RCSA §§ 22a-66a-1 and 22a-66a-2, create four separate obligations that exam questions often blend together:
- Giving label information to the customer before the contract.
- Notifying abutting neighbors who have registered for notice.
- Posting signs at the time of outdoor applications.
- Special notices for golf courses, lakes and ponds, farms using RUPs, utilities, railroads, and mosquito control.
Keep them separate: each has its own trigger, timing, and content.
1. Label Information for the Customer — § 22a-66a(a)
Before entering into a written or oral agreement to apply a pesticide, a pesticide application business must give the person requesting the application, and the resident or manager of the property, two things:
- Notification of the neighbor registry described below.
- A copy of the part of the label that states the product name and registration number, the manufacturer, the active ingredients, the signal word, an emergency phone number (if listed), and the precautionary statements — including environmental hazards, human and animal hazards, emergency treatment, and reentry.
For each additional pesticide added later, the same label portions must be provided before the initial application of that product. Outdoor applications for an electric public service company's rights-of-way or facilities under an approved utilities pesticide management plan (§ 22a-66k) are exempt from the label-copy requirement.
2. The Neighbor Notification Registry — § 22a-66a(b) and RCSA § 22a-66a-2
Who is covered
An owner or tenant who abuts the property to be treated, and who has requested notification, must be notified before a pesticide application business applies a pesticide within 100 yards of any property line. This is a registry of neighbors who ask to be told; it is not a list limited to medically sensitive people.
How a person gets on the registry
- The person submits DEEP's form to either the pesticide application business or DEEP. The form gives the requester's name, address, telephone number, and best time to be notified, plus the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of abutting property owners.
- A business that receives a request keeps a copy, forwards the original to DEEP within 5 calendar days, and starts 24-hour prior notice immediately, without waiting for DEEP's registry to list the person.
- The business must keep notifying the person for at least three years from the date it received the request. It may stop only after giving at least 30 days' notice of its intent to stop and of the person's right to renew the request.
- DEEP compiles a registry for each calendar year (requests received by December 31 count for the next year) and sends a copy to every registered pesticide application business. A business that has not received its copy by April 15 must tell DEEP in writing by April 30.
How notice must be given
| Requirement | Rule |
|---|---|
| Attempts | At least two attempts |
| Timing | As early as practicable but not later than 24 hours before the application |
| Method | Any method, including telephone, mail, or personal notification |
| Content | Common name of the pesticide likely to be applied; location; date and approximate time; and the business's name, address, and telephone number |
| Date change | Notify again at least 24 hours before the amended date |
| If attempts fail, the application is an emergency, or IPM best practices call for immediate treatment | Attempt to notify in person immediately before the application. If every attempt fails, leave the notice and the record of attempts on the requester's door. |
| Records | Date, person notified or attempted, and method, kept with the business records |
Anyone who gives notice of an aircraft application under DEEP's aircraft regulations is excused from this notice.
3. Posting Signs for Outdoor Applications — § 22a-66a(c) and RCSA § 22a-66a-1
When signs are required
- Any person — not only professionals — making an outdoor application within 100 yards of any property line must post a sign at each conspicuous point of entry. A point of entry is each location designed for or generally used by pedestrians or vehicles to enter the property.
- A commercial applicator must also post signs along the road frontage, no farther apart than every 150 feet or part thereof.
- Signs are posted by the person applying the pesticide, at the time of application.
Exemptions
- Noncommercial applications to an area smaller than 100 square feet or to a fenced area. A fenced area is completely enclosed by a fence, wall, or other barrier that prevents unauthorized entry.
- Applications on agricultural land that produced, or can reasonably be expected to produce, more than $1,000 in gross sales in a calendar year. Restricted use pesticide applications on farmland have their own posting rule, below.
The standard lawn sign
| Feature | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Size | 4 inches high by 5 inches wide |
| Material | Rigid, readable for at least 24 hours despite bad weather |
| Colors | Black lettering on a bright yellow background |
| Heading | "PESTICIDE APPLICATION" in bold 36-point type |
| Symbol | A circle at least 2 inches in diameter with a diagonal slash over a person, child, and dog |
| Statements (12-point) | "Pesticide applied on (date) by (business name and telephone number, or the words 'property owner')" and "This sign must remain for 24 hours after pesticide application" |
| Printing | Professionally printed, except the date and the name and phone number, which may be handwritten in permanent ink |
| Placement | Bottom at least 12 inches and top no more than 48 inches above ground; 2 to 5 feet from the sidewalk (or the road, or the property boundary if there is no road); road-frontage signs face the road, entry signs face people entering |
| Removal | No one may remove or obscure the sign within 24 hours after the application |
If someone calls a commercial applicator using the contact information on a sign, the applicator must provide the name(s) and EPA registration number(s) of the pesticide(s), any re-entry restrictions, and the application date.
Retail sellers
Wholesalers and distributors must make signs available to retailers. A retailer must give enough signs to each buyer of a pesticide registered for outdoor use, and must display a "NOTICE TO PESTICIDE BUYERS" sign at each point of sale explaining the posting law and its exemptions.
4. Special Notices
| Situation | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Restricted use pesticide on farmland (§ 22a-66a(d)) | Sign at each conspicuous point of entry, plus every 150 feet of road frontage if the application is within 100 yards of a public road. Applications more than 25 feet from a public road are exempt from the frontage signs for up to 500 square feet. Signs may be seasonal or per application and stay until the REI for the last pesticide used has lapsed. Minimum size 8.5 × 11 inches, reading "ATTENTION — RESTRICTED USE PESTICIDES ARE IN USE — PLEASE AVOID THIS AREA" ("Attention" at least 1.5 inches high). |
| Golf courses (§ 22a-66a(e); RCSA § 22a-66a-1(d)) | No more than 24 hours before applying, post a sign at the first tee and at the clubhouse registration point. Courses with more than nine holes post at the first tee of each nine; post at both tees where men's and women's first tees differ. Signs at least 12 × 12 inches, 40–60 inches high, reading "PESTICIDE APPLICATION WITHIN LAST 24 HOURS" with a contact name and the areas treated. |
| Public-access lakes and ponds owned by the state or a town (§ 22a-66a(h)) | Publish newspaper notice in each town where the water body lies and post a sign at each public access point. The sign is at least 8.5 × 11 inches, black on bright yellow, reading "CAUTION — LAKE TREATED WITH PESTICIDES", and lists the pesticides, the date and time, the applicator, and the water-use restrictions. It stays up until the latest restriction date. Republish if the application will be more than 3 days after the estimated date. |
| Private lakes or ponds with more than one shoreline owner | Notify each abutting shoreline owner or tenant: at least two attempts, the second at least 24 hours after the first, and both as early as practicable but at least 24 hours before the application. |
| Utility rights-of-way (§ 22a-66k) | Electric, telephone, and telecommunications companies notify abutting owners or occupants at least 48 hours before application, obtain consent for applications tied to tree or brush removal on private property, and post notice on treated utility poles. |
| Railroads (§ 22a-66a(j)) | Notify the Department of Transportation and each town's chief elected official at least 21 days before applying, and file a vegetation management plan by February 1 each year. |
| Mosquito control (§ 22a-66a(k)) | Department of Public Health newspaper notice before seasonal larviciding; a posted sign before adulticide spraying. |
Rights-of-way, distribution lines, and roadsides (including guardrails) treated by the state, towns, businesses, or public service companies are otherwise exempt from § 22a-66a notice, except that electric companies must follow their on-site posting rules (§ 22a-66a(i)).
Note
The penalty for violating § 22a-66a is a fine of not more than $90 (§ 22a-66a(l)), notwithstanding the larger penalties in § 22a-63. Repeated failures can still feed into certification and business-registration actions.
Which description matches Connecticut's required sign for an outdoor lawn application under RCSA § 22a-66a-1?
A red flag posted only when restricted use pesticides are applied
A 4-by-5-inch rigid sign, black lettering on bright yellow, reading PESTICIDE APPLICATION with a slashed circle over a person, child, and dog, left up for 24 hours
A 12-by-12-inch sign reading PESTICIDE APPLICATION WITHIN LAST 24 HOURS, posted at the first tee
An 8.5-by-11-inch white sign reading KEEP OFF THE GRASS, left up for 48 hours
A pesticide application business receives a neighbor's written request for notification. What must it do with the request?
Notify the neighbor only for restricted use pesticide applications
Hold it until DEEP publishes the next annual registry, then begin notifying
Begin notifying only if the neighbor provides a physician's statement of chemical sensitivity
Keep a copy, forward the original to DEEP within 5 calendar days, and begin 24-hour prior notification immediately
A commercial crew treats turf on a corner lot whose treated area is within 100 yards of the property lines. Which posting duty applies?
Signs at each conspicuous point of entry plus road-frontage signs no farther apart than every 150 feet or part thereof
Signs only at the front door of the house
One sign per acre treated, posted 24 hours before the application
No signs, because the crew is commercial and the customer was notified
Sections you finish are checked off in the contents.